Put a gob of Tabasco on whatever you’re cooking and it should burn the tongue enough to satisfy your need for spice. Of course, it doesn’t mean the food will taste good – just spicy. If you want to cook meals that are both bursting with heat and utterly delectable, you might want to pick up Make It Spicy: More than 50 Recipes that Pack a Punch.
A recipe book centered on spicy grub, it compiles a small collection of heat-packing dishes and walks you through each one in detail. And, no, the instructions don’t consist of following the usual recipe and adding an entire bottle of hot sauce like you normally resort to, so it should turn up sufficiently hot food without sacrificing taste.
Written by James Beard Award winner, Amy Machnak, Make It Spicy groups its recipes across the hardcover’s 96 pages according to heat levels: mild, hot, and fiery. The basic recipes are only a starting point, though, as each one actually comes with customizable heat levels, allowing you to change up an erstwhile mild recipe while maintaining the taste. Spicy ingredients for each of the recipes vary depending on the taste it’s going for, as the book utilizes everything from jalapenos and chili oil to mustard and wasabi, so it’s also a great way to get acquainted with different source of spice – not a bad thing to learn for someone who likes their food at higher Scoville ratings.
Available in hardcover format, Make It Spicy is priced at $15.85.